1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to interconnecting lengths of trunking used to install electrical devices of any kind, such as socket outlets or other devices, and to route electrical cables or conductors connected to them, whether in the form of baseboards when such trunking is installed to form the baseboard at the bottom of a wall, or in the form of moldings when they are installed on the surface of walls, for example alongside the frame of a door or window opening or at the junction between a wall and a ceiling.
The invention relates more particularly to a trunking connecting device including a plate for joining the backs of the trunking base sections, said plate being provided at each of its edges adjacent the cut edges of the trunking base sections with longitudinal tongues adapted to bear on the two opposed faces of each back.
The invention is applied with particular advantage to making corner connecting devices and trunking branch connection or junction devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The document FR 2 731 496 (WO96/28681) describes a connecting device as defined above in which the longitudinal tongues of the plate, which are adapted to be applied to the face of the back of trunking facing toward the wall to which said back is fixed, have a certain thickness and therefore a certain stiffness.
In this case, according to the above document, in order not to impede the fixing of the trunking base section to the wall, the longitudinal tongues are received in housings defined by the back of the trunking base section, having a recessed U-shaped section relative to the surface of the back which is applied to the wall to which it is fixed.
Additionally, according to the above document, the longitudinal tongues carried by the plate and intended to be applied to the face of the back opposite that applied to the wall project relative to the face that carries them and have a globally Z-shaped section so that they bear elastically on said face of the back of the trunking base section and compensate play resulting from the assembly of the other longitudinal tongues into the corresponding housings on the opposite face of said back.
The arrangement previously described, apart from the fact that it is relatively complex, requires a special adaptation of the back of the trunking base section.
It is therefore relatively costly to produce.
To palliate the above problem, the present invention proposes a device for connecting at least two lengths of trunking, including a plate for joining backs of base sections of the trunking, the plate having on each of its edges adjacent cut edges of the trunking base sections longitudinal tongues adapted to bear on two opposite faces of each back, which tongues are substantially plane, have a thickness from about 0.2 mm to about 1 mm, and are adapted to bear elastically against the opposite faces of the back.
In accordance with the invention, the relative thinness of the longitudinal tongue(s) intended to be applied to the face of the back which is applied to the wall to which the trunking is fixed therefore avoids the need for special adaptation of the back of the trunking and of the longitudinal tongues which are applied to the face of the back opposite that which is applied to the wall, which preserves intact the back which is useful for running cables or conductors or for installing electrical devices in said trunking.
Other advantageous and non-limiting features of the connecting device according to the invention include:
three longitudinal tongues on each edge of the plate adjacent a cut edge of a trunking base section are disposed in an arrangement resembling the shape of a winners"" podium, two end tongues are positioned on the top face of the plate so as to be placed against the top face of the back of the trunking base section, and a central tongue is positioned on a bottom face of the plate so as to be placed against a bottom face of the back of the trunking base section;
the longitudinal tongues have the same thickness;
the thickness of each longitudinal tongue is approximately 0.5 mm;
the plate is plane and has at least two transverse ends adapted to be placed adjacent two cut edges of two lengths of trunking;
the two transverse ends of the plate are at an angle to each other enabling connection of two lengths of trunking extending in two different directions in the same plane;
the plate has walls on its longitudinal edges adapted to be aligned with lateral flanges of the trunking base sections to provide continuous walls;
the plate carries on its top face a pillar with an orifice through it that opens onto the bottom face of the plate, the orifice forming a passage for a fixing member for fixing the plate to a wall supporting it;
the plate has two parts with an inside or outside corner between them and each edge of each part of the plate adapted to be placed adjacent a cut edge of a trunking base section is provided with longitudinal tongues;
the two parts of the plates are fixed relative to each other;
the parts of the plates are articulated together by a junction part forming a hinge; and
the plate is molded in one piece from a plastics material.
The following description, which is given with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are provided by way of non-limiting example, explains in what the invention consists and how it is put into effect